6  When the phone rang at 4 a.m. one morning in September, Patty Boles feared the worst.

Instead, the longtime advocate for North County foster parents learned that she was selected as of 10 U.S. winners for L’Oreal Paris’ 2013 Women of Worth program. The honor includes a $10,000 check for Straight From the Heart Inc. — Boles’ nonprofit foster family resource center in San Marcos — and the chance to win another $25,000 at a ceremony in New York on Dec. 3. The names of the 10 Women of Worth were released to the media on Monday and the Vista resident said she has been overwhelmed by the support that has poured in since then.

“I’ve never felt so loved in my entire life,” she said. “The comments people are making are so incredible. I’m very uncomfortable with the cameras and makeup and interviews, but it brings attention to the center, and I know the good work we do for the community, so I’m super honored.”

Boles, 58, and her husband Richard have one natural-born child, 10 adopted children (most of them with special needs), and they have fostered nearly 100 others over the past 33 years. In the 1970s, Boles said she encountered so many legal roadblocks to getting services for her foster kids, that in 1981 she and a few friends founded the North San Diego County Foster Parents Association.

Then in 1997, she started Straight From the Heart Inc., a 6,500-square-foot resource center where prospective foster parents can take required classes and attend support groups and foster children can have reunification meetings with their birth families. The center at 839 W. San Marcos Blvd. also operates a store where foster parents can pick up free children’s clothing, toys, school supplies, formula and diapers donated by local businesses and churches, and they can shop for clothing and housewares in a volunteer-run resale store (open to the public), where all proceeds benefit the organization.

Barbie Caldwell, a San Marcos foster mom who has known Boles for 14 years, submitted Boles’ name to L’Oreal Paris last spring without Boles’ knowledge. In July, contest official narrowed the nominees from 3,500 to 30, and after interviews and reference checks, they picked their final 10 in September.

Caldwell said Boles is not only a respected leader and adviser in the foster community, she has also been an amazing adoptive mother to many children born with severe disabilities.

“No child’s diagnosis has been too much for her to overcome,” Caldwell said. “Her passion is to make the world a better place for kids and she surely has. I nominated her because she is very humble and doesn’t like to brag about herself, but she deserves this.”

Created in 2006, Women of Worth honors American women who are making a difference in their communities. This year’s 10 winners include a teacher who survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre who now runs a conflict-resolution program for youth; a New Jersey mom who started a teen suicide prevention program after her son took his own life; an Illinois entrepreneur who runs a cafe that employs at-risk youth and ex-offenders; and a North Carolina mom who started an assistance program for families with sick children after she lost her 2-year-old son to leukemia.

Each woman has received $10,000 for her program, and from now until Nov. 20, the public can vote for which of the 10 winners should receive a $25,000 grand prize. The results of the voting (online at womenofworth.com) will be announced at the ceremony on Dec. 3.

Boles said she knows she is up against stiff competition for the final prize, but she’s putting out the word to her friends, family, fellow church members and people in the foster care community. She said the $10,000 will pay six months of rent at Straight from the Heart, and $25,000 more would cover expenses at the all-volunteer center for an additional year.

Win or lose, Boles said she is very excited about her upcoming trip to New York. She wants to see a Rockettes show and can’t wait to meet some of the celebrities who have been announced as attending, including her all-time favorite singer Trisha Yearwood. Caldwell said she and several other foster moms have bought plane tickets so they can travel with Boles to cheer her on.

“This is a really intense and exciting time for me and the money will go a long way for us,” Boles said. “We are always on a shoestring budget, so every dollar we get goes toward keeping the doors open.”